A row of old books Photo: Photo: Maguis & David / flickr CC
Eye - 27 April 2012
From books to Bragg-ing
Homeless Quaker books
A cull is taking place in the well-known ‘Book Town’ of Wigtown in south west Scotland.
Wigtown Meeting, having settled into their new Meeting house, found that their library had become too large and so began the process of cataloguing the 350 titles, ranging from history, biography and fiction through to teaching materials and children’s books.
Beverley Matthias said: ‘The collection is used by Friends and visitors who often find something of interest on the shelves… As part of the cataloguing process we have culled the shelves of unwanted duplicates, and some older material.’
However, Eye was interested to learn that seven antiquarian books have been left homeless by disinterested local bookshops. The titles include: William Penn, Founder of Pennsylvania (1882); Quaker Adventure (1926); Diaries of John Bright (1930); John Bellers 1654-1725 (1935); Quaker Homespuns 1655-1833 (1932); A Book of Quaker Saints (1918) and Quaker Anecdotes (1880).
Wigtown Meeting are determined that their volumes are not left ‘on the shelf’, Beverley said: ‘We have decided to offer them to other Quaker Meetings who might have a use for them. The books will be given away singly or as a group, but we would appreciate payment of the postage.’
If any Eye readers’ fancies are tickled by one of these titles, email: bamathias@wordswork2.supanet.com
Bragg-ing
Friends who heard In Our Time on BBC Radio 4 on 5 April may be interested in the contents of one of Melvyn Bragg’s recent email newsletters.
In it he describes Quakers he had known in Wigton in the fifties. ‘There was a Quaker school on the edge of the town, said to be the first co-educational boarding school in the country… We played them at rugby which was a bit unfair because we had a rather larger school than they had.’
The Quaker Meeting house in the town became the library, he reminisces: ‘[It was] run by Quaker ladies who I remember as almost beatific in their kindness and assistance. I also remember helping them to put up the boards in front of the books so that the spines of the volumes did not interfere with the calmness of the Quaker Meetings.’
He went on to say that Quaker quietism and Meetings harked back to ‘a purer and more inspirational notion of Christianity’.
It seems that the programme, entitled ‘George Fox and the Quakers’, struck a chord: ‘I wasn’t surprised when Tom Morris, the producer of In Our Time, told me that there had been a far greater than usual response to this programme… [he] also observed that a friend of his had said that the Quakers were the only people that every faction in Northern Ireland, at the worst times, felt they could talk to.’
‘I like the idea of Pennsylvania. I like the idea of turning to chocolate in order to give people an alternative to drink. I also like the idea that perhaps they didn’t understand that to have a glass of red wine AND dark chocolate is irresistible.’
Luggage and the Lord
Chuckles were raised in the Friend offices when Don Mason sent in the following notice seen on a bus in the Guatemalan Highlands:
The Lord travels with us. The Management of the Company is not responsible for your luggage.
Author unknown
It also prompted some memories from the editor, who recalled graffitti in east Belfast some years ago when Kevin Keegan, the English footballer, was at the height of his powers. A notice, outside a gospel hall, stated in bold letters:
Jesus Saves
A local wit felt moved to make a personal contribution underneath:
But Keegan scores from the rebound
Comments
Amendment: Friends interested in the old Quaker books offered by Wigtown Meeting should contact Elizabeth Duncann on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Beverley Matthias, who helped catalogue the books and whose email address was in the article, sadly passed away in April.
By ElinorS on 10th May 2012 - 9:09
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